Magdalena

“She is so bright and glorious that you cannot look at her face or her garments for the splendor with which she shines. For she is terrible with the terror of the avenging lightning, and gentle with the goodness of the bright sun; and both her terror and her gentleness are incomprehensible. But she is with everyone and in everyone, and so beautiful is her secret that no person can know the sweetness with which she sustains people, and spares them in inscrutable mercy.” ― Hildegard of Bingen

"From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the aeon, in silence."― Gospel of Mary, 8:24

And of the Magdalena: Mary of Magdalene, whom I spent a lifetime infatuated with and pondering the mystery of her over and over again. Harlot, sister, lover of Christ and fully woman. She alone waited those nights in the garden for her beloved, and we will never know if that was blind faith or simply crushing loss. I can feel her through me saying "What does it matter? Where else could I go?"

Her gospel - never canonized - talks about the power of the soul and its seven forms. Hers is an outsiders journey, an eminence and emanation of not only spiritual love (agape) but also sensual love (eros). Though marginalized in Christianity, the Gnostics consider her the greatest apostle. In "The Great Question of Mary", Jesus allows her to see an erotic but very symbolical vision that reveals she is the new, improved Eve. In The Pistis Sophia, Mary both experiences and interprets mystical visions.

In my heart, she is the representation of the union of agape and eros, made manifest through the symbolic representation of her devotion and surrender.